I am one of the lucky ones.  Before AA, I never made more than feeble attempts to quit drinking on my own, mostly just a week or two of not drinking to recover from a particularly bad hangover, or to try and stick to a diet.  There was never an intention to give up alcohol long term.  And when I came to my first AA meeting, I was in the same frame of mind.  My ability to stay sober for even a week or two had left me, and I wanted to get it back.  I got a week... then two... then three... I guess I was at about 30 days when I had a powerful urge to pull off the freeway and get a 12-pack.  I decided to "turn it over", with some internal amusement and a great deal of skepticism.  I was quite amazed when later that evening at home, I realized I hadn't thought of drinking at all since that moment earlier in the day.  Then at maybe 5, 6 months sober - I decided I really, really wanted this AA thing.  I already felt I belonged, but always harbored the thought that I'd probably drink again once I felt "recovered enough" (there's that word again).  Thankfully, those thoughts went away - life kept getting better, and now when I think of sneaking a drink, it always appears to me as not "to sneak a drink or not to sneak a drink", but "to continue living my life as I have, or to throw it all away".

That keeps me sober. 

The other thing I wanted to mention is anger.  I'm a fundamentally angry person.  I am easily annoyed by people's stupidity, authority, policy... as I once told when speaking in a meeting, "my problem with other people is that they exist".  I work every day to maintain my serenity - to let those angry moments go on by.  I'm not so loving and unselfish that I expend great effort to spare others from my anger.  No, I'm still working on sparing *myself* from my anger.  My anger is just as likely to ruin my day as it is to ruin someone else's, in fact more likely because if I am a jerk to a store clerk, I'll be gone in 5 minutes.  But when I walk out the door, the jerk is still with me - as long as I indulge him.  I also am trying to learn to stop beating myself up for getting angry.  Anger narrows my options.  The angrier I get, the fewer choices I have, until only one (like: kill the son of a bitch) remains.  I have learned that I cannot act in anger, but rather I can act ON anger, by presenting myself with a choice - a choice to not be angry, or at least take a break of a few seconds from whatever is pissing me off.

I don't know how this may fit in with any professional "anger management" tactics, which I've never been involved in.  AA slogans like "how important is it really" seem pretty trite and it's the last thing I want to hear when I'm on a roll of righteous posturing.  But when I notice it's MY blood that is boiling, MY head that is hurting, MY soul that is being abused... it's much easier to choose to back off.  That's because...  my higher power has restored some sanity to this brain.  The sanity of self-love, instead of self-hate.  It's pretty difficult to love others when you hate yourself. 

Barisax